16 March 2008

In Shape - Just the Wrong One

Well after a holiday full of beer, overindulgence, and not nearly enough time on the bike, I headed out this morning on the MTB for what I was hoping to be a fairly decent hit-out, and to pay some penance for my slackness. AWMTB had scheduled a social ride for 10am, I wanted a few more km's than that so headed out early, just after 8am, to get some Nail Can time in as well.

Side-note: I'm toying with the idea of building up a singlespeed hardtail, as I have accumulated a few parts over the last couple of years, and they should really be put to use. Unsure what to do about gear ratio, the concensus being start at 32:16 and work from there. I wanted to do a lap or two of the Nail Can Race Course without changing gears ("single speed") and see what ratios will work.

Well my GOD am I unfit! It's being a long time since I have felt physically ill after riding, and there were 2 points today - not even having reached the race course, where I had to stop, get off, and try not to pass out or upchuck. Granted, I'd already started the singlespeed experiment (32:17 for reference) but things were not looking good.

Well let me tell you I have a whole new degree of respect for SS riders now - no wonder they're all bloody whippets! 32:17 got me about 2/3 the way around the course before I admitted defeat. It would appear that Project SS is going to be a little on the challenging side (well the riding of anyway). Hmm that project ain't looking as attractive now!

Time to take a teaspoon of cement and harden the f**k up methinks.

Anyway social ride was good value. We were traipsing out to Eastern Hill and Mungabareena Reserve. For the non-Border-ites, Eastern Hill is a fairly large and imposing hill on the (you guessed it) the eastern side of town. The Hume Hovell Walking Trail crests this hill, with some quite good condition singletrack, plus some less than good condition tracks heading down the hill towards Mungab and the River - for a bit of a goat track challenge.

I was the nominated sweeper for our group (great excuse to ride slow) and had a great ride around. There are some really good tracks on the riverflats, alot of them chopped up by the 4wd clowns, but conditions being really dry, no boggage or mud to speak of.

So 2 hours of cruising around with the club guys, a quick BBQ lunch - sausage, onion, bread, sauce, 2 cans of coke, and it was off home. Total time out 5 hours, 4:01 ride time, 50km under the belt. Sorely needed!

High point for the day was getting to ride one of these for a couple of hours (thanks Pete!). Oh my god, I am in LOVE. Never thought a dually would make so much difference. Climbing back on the XTC afterwards was like trading in your WRC STi for a 1988 Hyundai Excel.

Not in a position to upgrade (yet...) but it is certainly food for thought